A Kindle phone could be next from Amazon

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While rumors of an updated Kindle Fire and larger models continue to swirl, Bloomberg is now offering up yet another speculative tidbit for the tech world to mull. According to a pair of sources their reporters spoke with, Amazon is getting ready to launch a Kindle smartphone.

Smartphones are a booming business right now: analysts peg the total number shipped in the first three months of 2012 at around 400 million. Amazon has already proven that they can compete with the Kindle Fire, so why not build a scaled-down version that they could sell alongside all those other carriers’ phones? Unlike many Android device makers, Amazon has an incredibly rich in-house content ecosystem that they can generate additional profits from. That allows them to be more aggressive with pricing. Hitting the magic $199 mark was a big part of the Kindle Fire’s success, so you’ve got to think that an Amazon phone would be priced to move, too.

So who’s going to build this Kindle phone? None other than Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturing titan who helps Apple churn out boatloads of iOS devices. Amazon has also reportedly been very busy on the patent front, seeking out sellers who can offer up protection against future legal actions from competitors.

Could Amazon really be building a smartphone? Sure, but the patents they’re seeking could very well be intended to protect their upcoming tablets as well. Foxconn builds a whole lot more than phones, so a new relationship between the two companies could be focused on the larger Kindle Fire models.